Adjustments
by Zena Airale
Summary: Lord Garmadon's heart always finds itself shifting in the balance. It yearns to be evil, the only way it has known. But his son, Lloyd—he's desperately trying to get his dear father back. After a death scare rocks Garmadon's world, he begins to realise that he doesn't want to be a bad man anymore...not if his own flesh and blood gets hurt in the end. Collab with Clazey J


Garmadon shoots a glance up at the periwinkle skies, where hundreds of soft, muted clouds lay innocently. The songs of the wind have silenced for now. They speak no more. The world is halted only temporarily; the same cannot be said for his son. His precious, brave and enduring son. Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon...the one who Garmadon had so cruelly left to die. For once, the Oni man, the King of Shadows...is silent. He's like the wind. Gone...and forgotten.

"He's gone…" Garmadon hears the Water Ninja sobbing. Tears fall down her face, pooling around her chin and dripping onto the ground beneath her feet. "Lloyd's _gone!"_

"He isn't coming back," the Master of Lightning murmurs. "Lloyd...I-"

"Sensei…" Kai pleads, turning to their old and wizened sensei with the premise of tears glistening in his almond brown eyes. "Sensei Wu...is there something that we can do to help him? A tea?" Kai pauses for just a single moment, his eyes frantically glancing around in an attempt to discover a solution to the problem they all face now. "Maybe a potion. Spinjitzu?"

"Yeah, what about the Tornado of Creation?" Cole's voice is soft and quiet, just like Wu's solemn reply.

"I...do not know what to do, my students. Lloyd...he's-"

Garmadon's heard enough. He leaves.

* * *

Garmadon remembers his home, the Monastery of Spinjitzu, like it was yesterday. He's left many times. To follow Chen and his cruel ways of teaching. To go and marry the woman of his dreams, Misako. To...meet his son for the first time.

And to die. Die at the hands of his own brother.

Garmadon never wanted for Lloyd to meet a fate like this. But lo and behold, his beloved Green Ninja...is no more. Garmadon finds himself taking slow and melancholic steps down the mountain. Perhaps...this will be the final time he does so. _Goodbye, _Garmadon thinks bitterly. _Goodbye father...goodbye brother...and goodbye son._

A single tear of his own begins to well in his eye.

_Weak, _Garmadon tells himself.

_No...you aren't weak, _comes the voice of his human side. The part of Garmadon...that Harumi never resurrected. He thought it was-

A chorus of relieved cheers cut him off.

"Guys...guys," an all-too-familiar voice assures the group of now elated Ninja. "I'm okay...I just had a fall."

_"Lloyd!"_

Garmadon's cry is desperate. He's spent far too long standing by the shadows as he watched his son grow older. For a moment...he thought that he was gone. Never to come back.

Garmadon had considered death as his only option at that point for a moment,

"Lloyd!" he cries. He stretches his arms out as far as they'll stretch as he scrambles up the stairs once more. He wants to hold his dear son in his arms...tell him everything's alright. He wants Lloyd to know that the real Garmadon is back. Tears flow faster by the second. He never would have believed that he was capable of such a thing, crying. But he doesn't care. Not one bit. His son is more important..._far_ more important to fret over something as trivial as crying. "I'm so sorry…" Garmadon chokes on his words, the fragile tone resonating throughout his soul, itching to break free.

"D-Dad!"

"Lloyd!"

The son and father collapse into each other's arms as a white light begins to grow in intensity around the Oni's body. Garmadon can feel his son trembling in his arms...is he scared? He doesn't want to think about it.

He just wants to hold his son and never let go.

"Lloyd…" he murmurs. "I'm...sorry."

The light envelopes the two...and for a while, Garmadon believes that he's starting to die. But he isn't. The air is warm again. And the Monastery...it's filled with surprised faces as the light dissipates from around them. Garmadon goes to put his four hands on the ground so he can stand up, but alas...he can only move two. He glances down at his body. His skin is no longer as dark as the night...it's the pale colour that he was accustomed to seeing before the wrenched Great Devourer bit him. And the two arms that are..._were_ attached to the sides of his chest, making it ever-so-hard to breathe at times...they're gone.

He can breathe again.

"Dad!"

Garmadon's taken aback as his son buries his face into his shoulder. "Dad!" he wails. "I...I thought you were gone for good!"

"Lloyd...I thought you were dead!" Garmadon wraps his arms around his son's chest to the point where Lloyd squeaks; Garmadon's clinging to him like he's going to lose him yet again.

"Dad...you're back…"

"Son...I-"

"You..you've unlocked your true potential!" Wu's eyes are wide and filled with shock. "I...I thought you'd never change back, brother!"

"_I've missed you so much, my son…_" Garmadon's voice falls to a voice barely above a whisper. He doesn't care for his brother's words...he only cares for his dear son.

"Please don't leave me again, father…" Lloyd whimpers. His emerald green eyes burst with tears, and his head falls back against his father's shoulder. "I...I don't want to see you like that _ever _again!" His voice is muffled with tears now. Tears, tears, tears. _So _many tears.

Garmadon can feel another pair of arms holding the two close. He gazes up from his son to see his dear wife. She still looks as beautiful as the day she did when the two got married in Jamonakai Village. It was cool and bitter that day...but their love was warm and strong against the frigid temperature. Their union as husband and wife was a sign that no matter what happened to Garmadon, he'd always come out on top. He invites Misako into the embrace, and for a while, they all sit there in silence and take in each other's presence. They don't really care for the input of others. They only care for each other..._like a true family cares_.

A soft sigh of relief escapes the destruction elemental's lips. Garmadon can still feel the dark, unholy power coursing through his veins...but there's something else deep down. Something else that's fighting the evil that runs through his veins.

The light.

It's warm...and welcoming...and _safe._

_He was finally free from the perils of his bitter and cruel past._

When they finally pull away from one another, Garmadon's hand remains lingering against his son's cheek and he presses his forehead against Lloyd's own. "_I'm so proud of you, my son…_" he whispers. And he means it.

Lloyd softly smiles. Misako gives Garmadon a reassuring glance.

"I missed you…" she murmurs, a small smile creeping across her lips.

"We _all _missed you," comes Wu's voice from behind. The mother, father and child stand, turning their attention towards the Ninja and all their friends.

Although the evil in him hates to say it...Garmadon missed them all, too.


End file.
